The Message

My father and I are continuing through a series of messages on creation. The understanding of creation is to come to the realization of God's incredible love and sovereignty for his people.  Today I would like to share with you these words from Genesis 1:6, "And God said, let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.  So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning, the second day." 

     Many people are more familiar with the King James version.  The King James version talks about the firmament, separating the firmament above from the firmament below.  So I want to share with you three things that you can keep in mind and understand about what God is doing and how God is in the process of continual creation. He will use the same process to create within you the future that He holds of goodness and prosperity and bounty and blessings for you.  I have three points:

1. From fog to clarity: He separated the waters;
2. From mush to firmament, He created the expanse; and
3. From possibilities to realities, He wanted it and it was so, it happened. 

This is exactly the way God makes things happen in our world today.  He uses people, things, and events.  He begins by taking the fog, the chaos, and he turns it into clarity.  In the text that we read he separated the waters from the waters.  When I read those words I picture a fog, a dense, thick fog, denser and thicker than you could possibly ever imagine.  A fog encompassing everything, where there is no firm ground, there is no separation of the waters and there is nothing but fog, a chaos of fog.  Think about the thickest fog you have ever been in. I remember driving in my car one time where I could only drive about two miles per hour because you could not literally see a thing.  Have you ever been in a fog that thick?  You can't see the lines in the road, you can't see the curb, you can't see anything and you just inch along because you can only see about 10 feet in front of you so you go 10 feet and you go another 10 feet and you go another 10 feet and you crawl through this fog.  It is scary, the only thing scarier than being on a street in thick, dense fog is to be in a boat in the middle of the ocean in thick, dense fog.  You plug along and it is really scary when all of a sudden, out of this fog, another boat appears right in front of you!  The fog keeps us from being able to see.  It keeps us from being able to understand.  It keeps us from being able to witness and realize the beauty and the joy of God. Every single one of us, at some time in our life, has been in a fog, and I am not talking about the water.  I am talking about the confusions in life.  We may have been in a fog of lies.  The deceptions that come upon us which tell us, "you know, you can't do that.  What do you think you are?"  The confusion of lies that says, "that won't hurt.  You can drink as much as you want, it's just a party, have fun."  The lies that say, "you can try it once. You won't be addicted."  The lies that say, "I can get away with it."  So, we find ourselves in this fog.  A fog of spiritual insecurities, thinking less of ourselves and who we are, and not seeing ourselves as the person created in the image of God for a purpose and for a reason.  Then comes the moment when God makes the decision and we hear the voice of God and He says, "I will separate the waters."  Suddenly the fog goes away and you have the clouds above and the water beneath and an atmosphere where there's clarity and security and safety with no fear of running into another car or running into the curb or killing yourself, because God separates the waters, from fog to clarity.  We get an idea, we get a conception, we see ourselves as who we are and it begins.

     Then God created the expanse.  It is what we know as the sky.  In the King James version it is called the firmament. The literal translation is "that which is firmly hammered," therefore comes the word firmament. What I see taking place in our spiritual lives is a journey 1) from fog to clarity.  Then once you have the clarity of vision, God will continue giving you the direction and the guidance and the ability to move forward to firmly nail down and hammer into place that understanding of who you are. 2) From mush to firmament. I am a person of value.  I am a person created in the image of God.  I am a person created by God for a purpose and for a reason.  I am a child of God.  I have been blessed by God.  I am being blessed by God.  All of these truths which we read within the bible from cover to cover need to be firmly implanted in our minds so that we don't allow lies and this fog to come back into our lives and take us down.  The bible says that God decided to separate the firmament above from the firmament below, to separate the waters from the waters.  And of course, it was so the bible says, it happened.  What God wants to happen will happen;

3) from possibilities to realities.  Does that mean there are never any rainy days?  Of course not, but you have to realize that no one ever sees a rainbow without a little rain. God will perform and will get what He wants and the question we have to ask ourselves is, "do we want to be a part of the miracle creating power of God?"  When God says it, it is so.  God wanted it and it came into being.

     Shauna Fleming was a sophomore at Lutheran High School in Orange, CA and she had a problem.  Her problem was that she had to do a service community project for her school. So she thought about different things she could do and she suddenly remembered that some time ago she and her father had gone to Camp Pendleton and they had given a thank you card to a Marine. This Marine was so touched by this thank you card, that this tough, hardened Marine shed a tear.  He received a thank you card and he shed a tear. So she decided she would get a bunch of thank you cards and send them to the Marines.  That became her school project and she was talking to her dad about it and said, "what if I collect a million thank you cards in the next month?"  So as far as she was concerned that was it. A million it would be.  At first it was just a joke, but suddenly it became a reality.  From fog to clarity, what am I going to do?  Suddenly the lights went on, the fog was lifted, the waters were separated from the waters and the atmosphere was clear and she knew what she was called to do, to find a million thank you cards in the next month to send to all of the servicemen serving in Iraq and in Afghanistan and in the outer parts of the globe.

     So on March 4, 2004, Shauna, a freshman, stood on the stage in front of the entire school and shared her vision. The student body applauded and gave her a standing ovation and they decide they would help her find a million thank you cards. Not long after that the word started to spread. She was playing at a softball game and the announcer said, "Shauna, we understand that you have a special goal."  So, she made an announcement at the softball game.  Word went out and Fox News heard about it and she was interviewed on Fox News.  Then ABC News and all the news correspondents reported about Shauna's project and goal.  As of today she has received 1,400,000 thank you letters and counting.  She written a book entitled "A Million Thank Yous."  She has a web site, guess what it is? http://www.amillionthanks.org/   From fog to clarity.  She got the vision, she got the dream, she didn't look at who she wasn't, she looked at who she was.  She didn't look at what she couldn't do, she looked at what she could do.  From mush to firmament she stood in front of her class and she hammered that vision down, committed it.  And if God wants it, it is so. 

God said, "Let there be an expansion between the waters to separate water from water.  So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it and it was so.  And God called the expanse sky, and there was evening and there was morning, the 2^nd day."  (Genesis 1:6)

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are a God who comes to enter this world to create within us an atmosphere of hope and of joy and of the reality of your power to use us to make a difference.  So give us the vision, O Lord, to clear the fog away and to hammer the vision into the soul of our being and to allow you to make it so.  Now we love you, Lord, and we praise your name.  Amen.